This invention relates to a novel gripping apparatus of the type used, for example, on remote manipulators and robotic devices. The gripper involves a simple but highly efficient way to grasp test tubes, vials and other lab vessels while a robot or automated system performs other operations on said test tube, vial or other lab ware. Additionally, the apparatus can be used as a pincher for working an eyedropper bulb or as a pinch valve to control the flow of liquids.
In recent years, a considerable amount of work has gone into laboratory robots. Systems have been developed for robotic methods for carrying out automatic pipetting, filtering, dilutions, spectrometry, titrations of various sorts, and other automatic procedures involving organic syntheses, testing and sample preparations. Much of the robot-automated work is preparative in nature and relates to use in analytical systems for a wide variety of applications such as analyses of polymers, food samples, extraction of drugs from biological fluids, etc.
As the work in laboratory robotics advanced, various devices have been developed which put increased demand on the equipment normally associated with robotic manipulation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,196, for example, discloses a bottle capper which requires that a gripper of lab containers hold the container sufficiently tight to allow the unscrewing of container caps. U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,025 discloses a compound gripper device that assures release of a smooth article from a high-friction gripping surface which often tends to adhere to the article being gripped. This device is allegedly useful for different types of containers.
However, none of the previous devices combine the high-friction gripping of the present invention with a simple, elegant, low-cost mechanism.